Nightdive hits pause on System Shock Remastered

Has strayed from original vision.

Matt Maguire

Scope creep and escalating costs have seen Nightdive Studios hit pause on System Shock Remastered.

A pitch for the remaster raised US$1.3m in mid-2016, but according to a Kickstarter update from Nightdive, a series of decisions since have seen the project move further and further away from what it was originally intended to be.

Nightdive founder and CEO Stephen Kick said a loss of focus, the move from a remaster to a completely new game, and the switch from Unity to Unreal Engine were all possibly factors that led to the halting of production and a reassessment of what the game is.

"I let things get out of control," said Kick.

"I can tell you that I did it for all the right reasons, that I was totally committed to making a great game, but it has become clear to me that we took the wrong path, that we turned our backs on the very people who made this possible, our Kickstarter backers.

"I have put the team on a hiatus while we reassess our path so that we can return to our vision. We are taking a break, but NOT ending the project," he continued.

"Please accept my personal assurance that we will be back and stronger than ever. System Shock is going to be completed and all of our promises fulfilled."

System Shock Remastered was due to release on PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4 this year.

In 2013, Nightdive re-released 1999's System Shock 2 with several technical improvements so it could run on modern platforms. In 2015, it released an enhanced edition of the first game in the franchise.

A third game in the series, System Shock 3, is currently in development at OtherSide Entertainment, with Starbreeze attached as publisher. (A previous version of this story claimed Nightdive was publisher. We regret the error.)